Originally, I intended this article to be one centered around the struggles DJ LeMahieu has had at the plate, but the Yankees have another veteran who has been unacceptably bad for them. Alex Verdugo has somehow remained the everyday starter despite a slump that has carried into late August, and while the argument they’ll make is that both of these players have decorated histories in this league, internally they need to recognize the problem they have. While calling up rookies is usually a faulty thought process I don’t particularly think they can be worse than either player.
Both Verdugo and LeMahieu are players who should not sniff this roster right now; they’re liabilities to the offense while not anchoring particularly vital defensive positions either, and it’s time that both manager and front office come to terms with their ineptitude.
DJ LeMahieu and Alex Verdugo Can’t Keep Starting For the Yankees
Alex Verdugo has a career-low 82 wRC+, and just when it looked like he could have gotten back on track, he completely fell off of a cliff. His numbers in August are pitiful, sporting an ugly .467 OPS and 33 wRC+, but the Yankees are adamant that he has to be out there every single day. There’s no reason to let him continue to get at-bats when Jasson Dominguez is on the 40-man, and service time manipulation cannot be the reason for allowing Verdugo to play right now.
The division race requires the Yankees to be all-in right now, but they’re using excuses that have nothing to do with their 2025 viability to impede their lineup. You can’t say for certain that Jasson Dominguez would come up and hit immediately, but I think there’s a lot of talent he brings to the table that Verdugo simply does not have. I’m not sure if he would help them against LHP, but I know he has a lot of power from the left-handed side and usually makes remarkable swing decisions.
Even if the answer isn’t Jasson Dominguez, Trent Grisham has outplayed Alex Verdugo by a healthy margin this season, having a wRC+ that’s nine points higher than Verdugo’s and playing a more premium defensive position. People dog on Grisham a lot but he’s a pretty solid outfielder, and if this was a fair and open competition in the outfield he would have beaten out Verdugo for the job by mid-July. This is where my displeasure mostly resides, it’s in these unfair and unreasonable decisions to solidify an undeserving player as the starter without any thought about alternatives.
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Ben Rice has a 90 wRC+, which isn’t inspiring but his high barrel rates and excellent swing decisions are the kinds of things you hope you can marry with other skills at the plate. He struggles against velocity, but I saw that same struggle with Austin Wells earlier in the season, who made a smart adjustment and has since become one of the best hitters on this team. When I look at both Rice and LeMahieu’s numbers against LHP, I see two underwhelming OPS numbers, but there’s a dramatic advantage in Rice’s favor here. DJ has a .387 OPS while Rice has a .565, and we all know that Rice can put a charge into a ball.
Maybe what Ben Rice needs is consistent playing time to figure things out and get back online, but the idea that he can’t get into games and try to sort out his issues is bonkers in my eyes when DJ LeMahieu is the alternative. There’s no rhyme or reason to playing LeMahieu from a defensive standpoint either, as he has -4 Defensive Runs Saved at first base with 0 Outs Above Average this season. We don’t have to pretend this is a good defensive player at that position nor an agile one, so what purpose does he serve if he’s not playing third base?
Plenty of players on this team had to earn their spots and play well enough to keep them, and yet DJ LeMahieu and Alex Verdugo don’t have to do much to keep theirs.
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How much of this falls on Aaron Boone? In the case of Alex Verdugo, I don’t believe there’s much he could do outside of playing Trent Grisham, and that’s not something I’m going to rip him to shreds over. The Yankees would have to move Aaron Judge to left field and that could get pretty weird defensively, it’s not worth the marginal offensive upgrade that you’re getting there. Also against left-handed pitching I don’t know what the right optimization would be.
That’s on the front office, they have to get Jasson Dominguez up and give Aaron Boone the green light to get their best prospect online. For DJ LeMahieu? That’s pretty much entirely on the manager, who has had ample opportunities to get Ben Rice involved but has iced him out because of his struggles. This isn’t a matter of not playing a rookie because a solid veteran is present, such as the case was with Austin Wells and Jose Trevino before Wells got hot, his current starter is one of the worst players I’ve ever seen don the pinstripes.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that either when it comes to offense, as among Yankees with 200 or more plate appearances, DJ LeMahieu’s 2024 wRC+ ranks as the eighth-worst mark in the post-integration era. It’s historic levels of ineptitude offensively, and the organization needs to make sure that he doesn’t see any playing time unless something unforeseen happens to Ben Rice.
Aaron Hicks had a wRC+ just two points lower than DJ LeMahieu’s before he was designated for assignment with two years left on his deal. The Yankees DFA’d Josh Donaldson with a wRC+ that was within 10 points of Alex Verdugo’s, and yet both of these players are unquestioned starters on a team that isn’t treading .500. Things have to change with their playing time, and the Yankees have to shift them out of the lineup.